The transfiguration was a preparation for Christ’s death. The Lord Jesus Christ would in due course appear to be taken in weakness. He would appear to be arrested as though he was unable to resist. He would be taken and he would be tried and then he would be executed, crucified on the cross of Calvary. And he would subject himself to all this. He would allow all this to happen. The great temptation would come to the disciples that he was after all not the Messiah, he was not the Son of God, after all. It was all finished, and he was revealed as just an ordinary weak man, not a special prophet for all his mighty works, with nothing divine about him. Quite often when the Lord Jesus Christ subjected himself in obedience to his task, there was some great authenticating event. For instance, when he was baptized it may have implied to his disciples that perhaps he was not as great as they thought. He was not the Messiah. And so, at such a time, lest his humble obedience should lead them to draw the wrong conclusions, there came then a voice from heaven. And so it is now. It's a kind of preparation, this tremendous manifestation of his divine power and glory and the brightness of his Godhead, and then this voice from heaven. He is going to humble himself. He is going to submit to being arrested, crucified, and slain. Why is he doing that? Because he's going to bear the punishment of sin for all who seek his forgiveness. He personally is going to pay the price. Yes, but it looks bad, doesn't it? And don't people draw the wrong conclusions? Isn't it a fact that people even today draw the wrong conclusions? Isn't it a fact that there is even a ridiculous musical written about him? Ridiculous, I mean theologically – I'm in no position to judge it in any other respect – which assumes that he had a great buildup through his miracles and then crash: it all came down as he disappointed his disciples and he appears not to be divine after all, because he's arrested in apparent weakness. The Lord was open to that, you see, and that is one of the reasons for an event like this. So that the disciples shall be clearly aware that he is indeed divine.
This event taught the disciples very clearly that Christ is supreme, he is all. Moses appeared, and Elijah appeared. What an astonishing thing that this should happen. The New Testament is not full of this sort of thing. This is astonishing; this is highly unusual; this is a unique event. Why should they appear? Because a tremendous lesson is being taught. Here is Christ and here is Moses, the great Moses. They knew it was Moses, the great Moses who had given the Jews the law and their whole system of worship. But the law was fulfilled perfectly in Christ. And then Elijah was there representing the prophets. Who are the prophets? Oh, right through the Old Testament. They are the messengers of God who say, a Saviour is coming. A Saviour is coming. The human race is lost in sin and condemned everlastingly. Almighty God is going to send a Saviour and the Saviour, and he will be born , they say, in Bethlehem. He will grow up. He will be despised and rejected. He will suffer and die. And he will pay the punishment of sin for all who are his, all who trust in him. But the Saviour has come. It is time. All the prophets were pointing to Christ and that prince among prophets, Elijah, comes and he is seen secondary to Christ in his great glory. That is what the disciples saw. They see the transfigured Christ, and Moses and Elijah doing him honour. The one to whom the prophets point is here.